


Something Blue

by rexisnotyourwriter



Series: Before the Flood [6]
Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Divorce, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fatherhood, Post-Divorce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-02
Updated: 2015-12-02
Packaged: 2018-05-04 11:48:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5333018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rexisnotyourwriter/pseuds/rexisnotyourwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alec Hardy reminisces about a memory of Daisy while packing up his things from their house after the divorce.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Blue

**Author's Note:**

> influenced by the song Now That You're Gone by Ryan Adams

They were on the path to being late for the wedding. It took Tess an extra twenty minutes to do Daisy's hair with the additional pauses for mini tantrums. So much for the terrible twos; it was the six year olds who developed an attitude. Tess still needed to finish getting herself ready. Her hair had already begun to dry funny, and she was still in her bathrobe.

"Alec, are you almost ready?" she called from Daisy's bedroom.

"Yeah," he replied from theirs.

He walked into Daisy's room while doing up his tie.

"Can you finish up with her while I try and do something about this?" she said gesturing to the frizzy mess on top of her head.

"'Course, love," he said.

He kissed her forehead and smiled before she ran off to the bedroom.

Daisy was sitting on her bed, arms crossed, with her feet dangling over the edge swinging back and forth. Her posture accentuated the puffy skirt of her pale blue dress that expanded below the bow around her waist. The bow matched the clip in her hair that kept her hair out of her face where it usually liked to hang. It was falling out now and starting to droop in front of her eye.

He knelt down by the bed so his eyes were level with hers. Gently, he undid the clip from her hair and fixed the stray pieces away from her face securing them once more. She winced as he locked the clip down. It was a hard one.

"Sorry, darling," he said giving the top of her head a kiss.

She scrunched up her face. It was her pretend mad face, the one she made when she wanted them to think she was more upset than she actually was.

"Almost set!" he said enthusiastically, trying to get her to smile.

The corners of her mouth flinched, but only for a moment.

"Just need to find your shoes," he said.

He thought they had set them out in front of her closet the night before, but they were no longer there.

"Dais, where'd you put your shoes?"

"I'm not going," she said.

He stopped searching for the missing shoes and turned to her.

"I know you don't want to go, darling, but I'm afraid this is one of those things you have to," he said.

He knew how she felt. Even he didn't want to go, but it was one of Tess' good friends from the academy. She hung her head and continued to swing her legs in protest. He knelt down beside her again and placed his hands gently on her legs to stop them.

"Daisy," he said softly.

He waited until she looked up at him.

"Why don't you want to go?"

Kids always had their reasons, however irrational they might seem to adults.

"It's gonna be boring," she said matter-of-factly.

He couldn't help but let out a laugh. _I know_ , he thought.

"The first bit might be, yeah," he said.

He tried to be as honest with her as he could.

"But you know, there will be lots of fancy dresses, and flowers. You love flowers."

Her interest was peaked, but she tried to hide it. She wasn't sold just yet.

"And then there's going to be cake, and dancing."

She smiled back at him.

"Dancing?"

"Loads of it," he grinned.

He stood up and offered her both his hands.

"Come on."

She took them and he lifted her up off the bed and planted her feet on top of his. He dancer her around the room humming a happy nameless tune. His strides grew larger and more exaggerated causing Daisy to giggle. With one smooth motion he swooped her up in his arms and waltzed in circles.

"Are we ready?" Tess said from across the hall.

"Almost," he called back.

He looked Daisy in the eyes, his face so close their noses almost touched.

"Now darling, where did you put your shoes?"

"Under the bed."

He shook his head and let out a small laugh. Rookie mistake.

By the time Tess got downstairs, Alec and Daisy were waiting by the door, coats on and smiles on their faces.

* * *

Tess and Daisy were gone for the weekend. It was better for everyone that way. He still had a key, but she told him to just leave it under the mat when he was done.

He stepped inside the dimly lit house. She had left the kitchen light on for him. It had never been this quiet or this empty in the time he'd lived there. It felt dead.

The empty boxes where in the living room where she said they'd be. He started filling them with his books, not bothering to label any of the boxes. He wasn't taking much anyways, and almost all of it was going to storage until he was no longer living out of a hotel.

He scanned the kitchen. The only thing he took was the Father's Day mug Daisy had painted for him one year. The date was scrawled, likely by Tess, near the bottom. She would've been five. He double wrapped it in tissue paper and bubble wrap before packing it away.

When he went upstairs he found his suitcases empty and open on their bed. Her bed, now.

His shirts and suits were neatly hung in the closet. He took them off their hangers and started to fold them as nicely as he could at first, but gave up after the third dress shirt. They'd wrinkle anyways, no matter how careful he was.

When he was finished clearing out his quarter of the closet he realized just how little he owned. He had only filled a suitcase and a half.

He reached up and grabbed the box on the top shelf of the closet. It was heavier than he remembered. A layer of dust lay across the top like a grey blanket. He blew on it, but it was too thick, so he wiped it off with the side of his hand. He contemplated opening it, but the ache in his chest told him not to. It got placed on top of his half-folded clothes in the half-empty suitcase.

Tess said he could sleep there if he needed, the truck wasn't coming until tomorrow, but he'd already paid for the hotel and the silence was getting to him. All he could hear were his thoughts and he hated it.

He went to bring the now full suitcases downstairs with the rest of the boxes and found himself unable to make it past Daisy's bedroom. The door was open, and he found himself walking inside.

It was still the same colour they'd painted it when they moved in, a pale yellow with white trim. She had the same bookcase too. He knelt down and scanned the titles, remembering the ones he'd picked out for her from his collection that he thought she'd like. He left them untouched.

The bedspread was blue, almost the exact same blue of the dress she wore to Janine's wedding years ago. He looked down at his feet. He could remember the slight weight of her feet on his as they turned about the room. He could even remember the nameless tune he had hummed.

He sat on the edge of the bed and closed his eyes. A smile spread ever so slowly across his face as the memory played in his head. When he opened his eyes he no longer saw the bright room and the little girl from his head but the blurred empty room of his reality. He stood up and rubbed his watering eyes with his hands.

He looked under the bed before he left, just because.

It was empty.

 


End file.
